


and I wanted to ask you, man, what do you do in the daylight?

by likewinning



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - Fandom, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Comment Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-29
Updated: 2015-01-29
Packaged: 2018-03-09 20:49:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3263912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/likewinning/pseuds/likewinning
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jason's not there to fight, despite all evidence to the contrary.</p>
            </blockquote>





	and I wanted to ask you, man, what do you do in the daylight?

"I'm not here to fight," Jason says, after Dick's gained a substantial bruise on his left cheek, after he's knocked the knife out of Jason's hand and sent it clattering across the room.

"Could've fooled me," Dick says, rubbing his cheek. Jason's not even breathing hard, but then, he's not the one who had his apartment broken into, not the one who got woken up _loudly_ at four in the morning to someone taking out their anger on his lamp.

He supposes he could have responded to Jason's visit in a way other than getting him in a chokehold, but the last person who broke in here was the damn _Joker_ , so.

So.

"Yeah," Jason says. "Heh." Dick can hear the grin more than see it, that _sorry I fucked up, but I'm still so lovable, aren't I?_ thing that worked on Bruce (and him, okay fine, _and_ him) for _years_ before –

Well. Before the stupid kid had to go on and die on them.

Dick takes a breath. Stumbles around the apartment until he finds a light they haven't broken and switches it on. And Jason's –

Jason's always made him crazy. He's always been this loud, angry thing, pretending like nothing matters to him, but the thing of it is he was made to be _Robin_ , same as Dick. Everything matters to him, and that everything's on his face, right now.

He wants to yell, wants to pick their fight up right where they left it, like the time before and the time before that, but instead he steps over broken glass and dirty clothes and gets in Jason's space until they can breathe each other. Sometimes, he knows, Jason's like an animal – he needs to smell you before he'll let you near him. He feels Jason tense, but eventually Dick gets a hand on his cheek, angles them until Jason's forehead is pressed to his. He's not wearing the stupid mask, not even the domino, which makes _Dick_ breathe a little easier because he smells like cigarettes and alcohol.

"Hey," Dick says. He means _you okay?_ and if Jason had come in here guns blazing, he knows Jason wouldn't have _gotten_ that, but Jason breathes out against him and says, "Hey," right back.

They stand like that for a while until Jason stops shaking, starts talking – about Bruce, about the others, about everything except the nightmare that must have sent him running here. This is the way it works, sometimes, when Jason's not trying to kill him or fuck him or both. Every once in a while, Jason listens to the right voices in his head and just comes here to _talk_.

More or less.

Eventually, Jason pulls away and smiles at him, and it's awful and nothing like the way Dick remembers, nothing like the smarmy punk who promised to beat all his records, but not that slasher smile that makes Dick's stomach turn, either.

"You know," Dick tells him, "one of these times, you could just come by for a cup of coffee."

"Or I could just break one of your mugs with your mug."

"No way," Dick says. "You love my mug too much."

"I still haven't ruled out kicking your ass tonight, you know."

Dick shrugs. "The only reason you even got me is because I wasn't ready for you before."

"Yeah, yeah," Jason says. He touches Dick's face, leans down and kisses his cheek where he punched him before. "Put some ice on that before _I'm_ the prettiest one."

He laughs, and Jason smiles at him again, and it's _almost_ like before – everything.

Or maybe it's just a trick of the light.


End file.
